The Period of Revolution
(1912 – 1949)

Cowed by foreign powers, China’s imperial rule
crumbled. A republic was formed and a president elected. Four years later
the president declared himself emperor, and civil war erupted. Reform
leaders like Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung would battle
old warlords and each other through this period as the country strained
to avoid foreign domination.

China had balked at entering the modern world.
Japan, however, looked enviously upon the resources of the Asian continent
and considered China weak. By the end of World War I, Japan was entrenched
firmly in Manchuria, Mongolia, and China’s Shandong province.

The United States was the other emerging Pacific
power. It had long felt sympathetic toward the Chinese people, both because
of their plight and the potential of their markets. China, in turn, looked
to the United States to check foreign aggression. While Washington tried
to reign in Japan’s Asian design, there was little America could
do with a limited military and economic presence. In 1921-22, an international
conference aiming to limit the world’s navies was held in Washington.
The resulting Nine Powers Treaty (also signed by Japan) reaffirmed America’s
Open Door policy towards China.

Meanwhile, revolutionary forces were
at work within China. Sun Yat-sen and, later, Chiang Kai-shek formed the
Nationalist army. Together with the Communists the Nationalists launched
the Northern Expedition in 1926, hoping to reunite the country. One year
later the Nationalists turned on the Communists, driving them underground.
The Nationalists formed a new government in 1928 and, led by the United
States, international recognition quickly followed.

While also
recognized by Japan, Tokyo continued to eye China’s vast resources
and, by 1937 China and Japan were at war. President Franklin Roosevelt
responded with a series of boycotts and froze Japan’s American assets,
since America was ill equipped for war. Meanwhile the United States provided
Chiang’s forces with financial aid. Once the United States declared
war following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, American advisors
and aid flowed more steadily into China.

While the Nationalists and Communists at first
cooperated against Japan, they soon split. Lead by Mao Tse-tung, the Communists
proved very effective at gaining the support of China’s millions
of peasants. The Nationalists, occupied at war’s end with repatriating
almost three million Japanese and blamed by many for an economy devastated
by war, were very unpopular. Four years of fighting between Communists
and Nationalists followed the defeat of Japan. When it was over in 1949,
the Nationalists had fled to Taiwan, and Mao ruled China.